[ RadSafe ] Lawmakers Propose U.S. Nonproliferation Director

[Gerry Blackwood]

{Why the hell not......Drug Czar, Intel Czar, Weps Czar...what next Emperor of the United States?}
 
Lawmakers Propose U.S. Nonproliferation Director


By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire


WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers in the House of Representatives last week introduced legislation that would create a “nonproliferation czar” to oversee U.S. efforts to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, Feb. 12, 2003).

The Omnibus Nonproliferation and Anti-Nuclear Terrorism Act of 2005 would establish within the executive office an Office of Nonproliferation Programs, to be headed by a director nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The director, who would serve as the president’s chief nonproliferation adviser, would be responsible for overseeing the various programs conducted by the Defense, Energy and State departments. Among the director’s responsibilities would be guiding the development of nonproliferation budgets and setting priorities.

Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) sponsored the bill. A congressional staff member said earlier this week that White House support for the measure was unknown.

The bill would also eliminate restrictions placed by Congress on nonproliferation aid provided to Russia and other former Soviet states through the Pentagon’s Cooperative Threat Reduction program and congressional restrictions placed specifically on chemical weapons elimination support for Russia. The bill would also remove a $50 million cap placed on CTR aid provided to countries outside of the former Soviet Union, and would provide the energy secretary with authority to spend departmental funds on nonproliferation projects in those nations.

The bill seeks to address the proliferation threat posed by Russian tactical nuclear weapons by authorizing the Energy Department to aid Moscow in conducting an inventory of such weapons. It would further require the defense secretary to report to Congress on efforts to secure or dismantle the weapons. In addition, the president’s authority to fund nondefense-related research by former Soviet WMD scientists would be expanded. 

The legislation also calls on the president to seek U.N. Security Council authorization for the Proliferation Security Initiative — a U.S.-led effort to interdict shipments of WMD related cargo; and to work with other countries to develop international standards on security for nuclear weapons and materials.

In addition, the bill would require the president to report to Congress on measures to strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to prevent countries from obtaining nuclear weapons under the guise of seeking civilian nuclear power programs. It also seeks to enhance the Global Threat Reduction Initiative — a U.S.-Russian effort to recover stocks of fresh and spent highly enriched uranium fuel the two countries provided to research reactors around the world during the Cold War.

“We have been warned repeatedly that we are in a race with terrorists who are actively seeking nuclear weapons.  The choice is ours: we can continue to risk an almost inevitable nuclear attack, or we can take action to prevent it,” Schiff said last week in a press statement.